Teens accused in death of parents to stand trial

By Cara McCoy

Published Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 | 2:52 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 | 6:15 p.m.

Two teens accused in the slaying of a Las Vegas couple at an eastern valley mobile home park will stand trial in District Court.

Victor Veliz and Timothy Chester, both 18, appeared today for a preliminary hearing in front of Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman. They are accused of killing Chester’s parents, Thomas and Carla Chester, on Sept. 30.

Each teen is charged with two counts of murder. They also are facing charges of conspiracy, robbery and burglary in connection with the deaths.

Thomas Chester was shot to death and Carla Chester died from stab wounds and blunt force trauma injuries. A knife was protruding from her neck when her body was found, Metro Police homicide detective Ken Hardy testified.

Goodman bound the case over to District Court, where the two are next scheduled to appear on Dec. 2.

Timothy Chester’s sister, Amanda Hewitt, who lived in the four-bedroom mobile home with her parents, brother and her two young children, testified today that her brother “had one friend that I knew of – Victor Veliz. They were best friends,” she said.

The two would hang out and play computer games, she said.

The day her parents were killed, she had left the home with her husband and children to give everyone a chance to “cool off.” There had been a fight the evening before about her living situation, and her parents had asked her to move out. Her husband had driven back from Arizona, where he was attending school, to be with her as she sorted out the disagreement with her parents.

She and her husband had decided to stay with her husband’s parents, she said. They spent the day on the Las Vegas Strip with the children, but she realized she had forgotten her phone charger, so they returned to the Chester home.

Sniffling, she told the court that when she returned to the home at the Heritage Mobile Home Park, 1515 S. Mojave Road, she found her parents dead.

“I seen my father laying on the ground. And my mother was laying on the couch with a knife coming out of her neck,” she said.

Her brother was nowhere to be found.

Although her brother didn’t have a cell phone, she tried the number for Veliz about 20 times in an effort to reach him “but it went to voicemail,” she said.

Metro Police homicide detective Clifford Mogg, who investigated the Chesters’ deaths and interviewed both teens when they were arrested, testified that Timothy Chester’s plan had been to kill his entire family.

In addition to his mother and father, Timothy Chester wanted his sister and brother-in-law dead, Mogg said, citing statements Timothy Chester made at the time of his arrest. Hewitt’s two children, both under the age of 4, would have been spared, Mogg said. The rest of his family was to have been lined up against a wall and each one shot in the head.

The plan, Mogg said, was for Veliz to kill Timothy Chester’s parents and then Timothy Chester would kill Veliz’s family. But as the plan to kill the Chesters unfolded, Veliz decided he didn’t want his family killed, Mogg said.

Mogg said Timothy Chester described a tense relationship with his parents but said there was never any abuse.

Veliz was arrested Sept. 30 at his home after his mother called 911. He told her about the crime immediately afterward and asked her to call the authorities because he didn’t want her to be involved, according to an arrest report.

Timothy Chester was arrested Oct. 1 after he aroused suspicion by walking along U.S. 93 near the Hoover Dam. His parents’ vehicle was found along the highway in Arizona.

Neither Timothy Chester nor Veliz invoked his right to take the stand at the preliminary hearing.

Records and testimony indicate that at about 9 a.m. Sept. 30, Thomas Chester drove his son to Veliz’s house. Timothy Chester didn’t have a driver’s license, his sister said. Later in the day, the two began to walk back to the Chester home, and it was during that walk that the plan to kill Thomas and Carla Chester was finalized.

According to Veliz’s statements to police, Timothy Chester told Veliz that he was upset with his parents and wanted to kill them. His mother, who was handicapped and suffered from a variety of health problems that ranged from diabetes to missing kneecaps, was strict about keeping the home neat.

Hewitt testified that her mother and brother would often argue about household chores. Hewitt’s and Timothy Chester’s statements to police indicated that Thomas Chester was often drunk. Family arguments would sometimes escalate, but violence was rare and police were never called, said Justin Hewitt, Timothy Chester’s brother-in-law.

The mood at the home on the day Thomas and Carla Chester were slain was tense, but some of the drama and most of the yelling stemming from the previous evening’s argument had subsided, Amanda Hewitt testified.

She said that when her brother left the home that morning, she thought he might be headed to Chaparral High School to get a copy of his transcript. He had dropped out of school that year but wanted to go back and finish, she said.

When Veliz and her brother returned to the Chester home at about noon that day, the Hewitts were gone, having taken their children to spend the day on the Strip.

At the time of his arrest, Timothy Chester, after being read his rights, told several versions of what happened the day of the crime, Mogg testified.

He first said that Veliz was the instigator and had pointed a gun at him. His story then changed and he told Mogg he was fearful of his brother-in-law, who had left an angry message on the family’s answering machine and was heading back to Las Vegas, possibly with a gun. He finally told Mogg that the plan was to, “Go in. Hold them up (against the wall). Shoot them.”

Timothy Chester told Mogg he had planned the murder of his sister and brother-in-law but not their children. After his family was dead, he and Veliz would leave Las Vegas in the Chesters’ vehicle and drive to California, where they might steal another car. Then, after spending a few days staying with Veliz’s aunt, the two would travel by boat to their final destination: Guatemala.

Instead, statements indicate that Veliz shot Thomas Chester. When Carla Chester began screaming, Timothy Chester took the keys to the car and left in the family’s Dodge SUV, leaving his friend behind. At about the time Timothy Chester left the home is when Veliz went into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed Carla Chester to death, Mogg said.

Veliz told Mogg he fired the gun twice but it kept jamming and he had to pull back the slide eight times.

Although forensic tests haven’t been completed, there isn’t evidence to indicate that Timothy Chester fired a weapon or stabbed anyone, Mogg said.

Both teens told police they weren’t under the influence of drugs, alcohol or prescription medications at the time. In interviews with police, both admitted to different roles in the day’s events. Veliz described what happened in an October interview with the Sun, saying he felt used and no longer considered Timothy Chester his friend.

In one of his interviews with Timothy Chester, Mogg asked him how he felt about his mother. He said he loved her, Mogg testified.

Timothy Chester and Veliz are being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.